The small knives darted straight toward Lucas’s face, several aimed directly at his eyes.
This guy really doesn’t hold back.
But this move—useless.
Lucas raised his sword to meet the flying blades.
Sword light sliced through the air, sending all the throwing knives flying aside.
The opponent’s attacks posed no real threat to Lucas.
But the woman’s assault did not stop.
The moment Lucas blocked the flying knives, she reached into her sleeve and threw something at him.
More throwing knives?
Lucas instinctively swung his sword to slash them away.
No, that’s not a knife—that’s a bottle!
Lucas thought, alarmed, but the sword he swung couldn’t be pulled back; the blade struck the flying bottle head-on.
Fragments scattered everywhere as a cloud of Blue Powder spread through the air.
Lucas instinctively covered his mouth and nose to avoid inhaling the powder.
“It’s useless. Even if you inhale just a little, you’ll become completely powerless,” the woman said, drawing several knives from her sleeve.
“This powder was meant for Iveena. I prepared extra just in case. Looks like I made a wise choice after all.”
Lucas felt his legs weaken and his whole body uncontrollably collapse to the ground.
This powder was truly potent.
Even with the Authority of the Deity empowering Lucas, just a tiny inhalation left him in this state.
If this woman had ambushed Iveena from behind and forced her to inhale a large amount of this powder, there would be no saving her.
“You do have some skill, but you’re ultimately one move behind. Farewell.”
The woman tossed a knife at Lucas as she spoke.
Lucas took a deep breath, watching the knives fly toward him.
Three knives—clear as day.
Though weak now, blocking these few knives was still manageable.
After three crisp clangs, Lucas’s sword swept to block all the knives.
“How is this possible?”
The woman’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“This stuff… doesn’t work on me…”
Though still somewhat weak, the effect was much less than when he first inhaled the powder.
It must be his body’s natural healing ability diminishing the poison’s effect.
“What kind of person are you?”
The woman took a few steps back, looking at Lucas as if she’d seen a ghost.
“You don’t need to know that. Just know this: you’re going to be finished here today.”
Lucas gripped his sword with both hands and stood, pointing it at the woman.
In just a few minutes, all the discomfort had vanished.
He was fully recovered.
The woman reached into her sleeve again, intending to retrieve another bottle.
But having learned from her last attempt, Lucas used his sword to lift a throwing knife off the ground and hurled it back at her.
The knife shattered the bottle she had just pulled out, pink powder billowing into the air.
But she wore a Mask, so the powder seemed to have no effect on her.
“You little brat…”
Killing intent surged from her eyes as she stared at Lucas.
But before she could react, Lucas’s sword was already before her.
The blade thrust forward, aiming straight for her heart.
“Heh…”
For some reason, even though the woman was about to receive a fatal strike, she didn’t show any fear—only a cold sneer.
That sneer sent a chill through Lucas’s heart, a grim premonition.
Yet he didn’t hesitate and pushed the sword toward her chest.
“Bang.”
A tingling numbness spread through his palm as the sword in his hand shattered on impact.
The blade hadn’t pierced her body but struck some kind of hard metal.
“Curious, are you?”
The woman coldly looked at Lucas.
“Well, I’ll let you see for yourself.”
She grasped her robe and tore it off.
What lay beneath was something Lucas had never imagined.
This woman should have a human head attached to her body.
But the rest of her body was forged from Dark Metal.
The sword he casually thrust just now hadn’t even left a scratch on her body.
More than that, her legs weren’t normal legs—they were a pair of sharp metal blades.
How was this possible? How could someone attach a human head to a metal body and still remain alive?
Lucas was stunned by this body structure.
“Surprised, aren’t you?”
The woman stroked her body like it was a work of art.
“First time seeing someone like me, right?”
She lifted her leg high, and the blade-shaped limb chopped straight toward Lucas’s head.
Lucas flipped to the side and dodged.
Her leg came down on empty air, carving a deep groove into the ground.
Lucas looked at his broken sword.
This thing was completely useless against this woman.
She was armored from head to toe—probably even Iveena would struggle against her.
He couldn’t let this woman harm Iveena.
Even unarmed, he couldn’t let her get past.
“Aren’t you going to run? In your condition, how do you expect to fight me?”
The woman mocked him and struck another leg chop.
If only he had a weapon—even a small wooden stick—he wouldn’t be in such a disadvantaged state.
“If you run now, you still might live.”
Though she said that, she still raised her leg to sweep Lucas’s head.
She said run, but clearly had no intention of letting him go.
Lucas dropped the broken sword and leaned back to avoid her sweeping leg, then kicked toward her jaw.
The kick landed—but it hit her Mask.
The Mask was made of metal, and the impact made Lucas’s foot throb with pain.
Is this woman insane?
Why would she go to such lengths to modify herself?
“Had enough?”
Despite being kicked in the jaw, the woman didn’t seem hurt at all.
Lucas flipped backwards to put distance between them.
Before he could steady himself, her fist came crashing toward his cheek.
With no choice, Lucas raised both arms to guard his face.
The punch seemed to be thrown with all her might; pain radiated through his arms as if his bones had been crushed to dust.
“You actually managed to react?”
The woman seemed intrigued by Lucas’s strength.
“But now your arms are shattered. You can’t resist anymore.”
No, resistance was impossible only if he gave up.
Though his arms were broken, Lucas could feel them rapidly healing under the effect of the Shensem Quanquan.
He just needed a moment—he still had time.
The woman, thinking Lucas’s arms were useless, relaxed her guard and stopped using her blade-like legs to kick.
Instead, she continued to throw punches.
Lucas dodged her attacks and retreated, eventually backing up against a Tree—now with nowhere left to run.
“Die!”
She threw a punch, but it struck the Tree.
The trunk shattered, wood splinters flying. Yet Lucas wasn’t there.
“What! You… how is this possible?”
The woman stared incredulously at the empty space before her.
Got her.
Lucas held a Tree branch and suddenly appeared behind the woman.